Sawako Kuronuma
Sawako Kuronuma (黒沼 爽子 Kuronuma Sawako) is the main protagonist of the series Kimi ni Todoke. Appearance Sawako is a considerably petite, slender teenage girl. She has pale skin, thin lips, big brown eyes, and long straight jet-black hair, which has been like that since her childhood. Sawako is constantly mistaken as "Sadako" from "The Ring", which makes her look like a person that can sense spirits and ghosts. Her smile is rumored to bring good luck, due to its rarity and the fact that it is beautiful to look at. Yoshida notes that Sawako's face and figure looks like her mother's, while most of Sawako's other features, including her short frame, are inherited of her father's. Sawako usually wears her high school uniform, also wearing a blue jacket during winter, and a short-sleeved dress shirt during summern. Her skirt is longer compared to other girls, since she does not pull up or cut the skirt like most of the high school girls do. During their second summer vacation through, Ayane helps Sawako with wearing her uniform a bit differently, moving the skirt up a little more and wearing the bow tie loosely instead. When not at school, Sawako is known to usually wear light-coloured dresses instead, but wears a t-shirt and a pair of pants during the school trip to be more at ease when walking. Personality Sawako is known to get nervous easily, giving her a creepy look due to nervousness along with her already "frightening appearance" which resembles a certain horror film character. Other running gag is that Sawako seems to take what people say seriously and over-analyze a situation, which tends to scare others around her when she is deep in thought. People think she can curse people, until Pin says she is an exorcist, which she can't do any of them. However, her tendency to shy away from correcting people of misconceptions prevent her from doing so. In reality, Sawako is a shy yet honest person who really wants to make new friends and be more open with other persons and new things, which along with her nervous attitude explains her "scary character". She is always seen doing chores as noticed by Shota, but he realizes Sawako does it because she wants to and doesn't want others to be troubled. Thanks to Shota's kind and open nature, Sawako is able to gradually make friends and have adventures with them, eventually open up. Sawako is a rather caring and kind person, though she appears to smile rarely, with Ayane and Chizuru getting surprised fast. She also works hard in everything she does, as seen when she fought back the girls from Class-A who insulted Ayane and Chizuru. Her pacifist nature and protectiveness sometimes makes her sacrifice herself for her dear ones, as seen when she avoided Ayane, Chizuru, and even Shota, to protect them from the rumors. Sawako is a bit oblivious to the point of affecting others unconsciously though, being yelled by Shota that avoiding others wasn't right, and that she was already friends with Ayane and Chizuru according to Chizuru herself. She also does not realize Shota loves her at first, mistaking his confession as a rejection of her feelings. It is shown that Sawako can give very good personal advice in an objective role, giving consultations as part of the cafe her class put together revolving around her vibe and medicinal plants during the school festival. Ryu stated that all of the dark, hateful people who went in the cafe came out purified and later on were able to confess to and date the people they talked to Sawako about. She also is quite harmonious and open-minded, noting how all things/beings complement each other. Sometimes, Sawako enjoys using her "ghostly appearance" in order to scaring her classmates. Sawako is grateful (and at first worships) of Shota for giving her the opportunities to make close friends, which come to include Ayane, Chizuru, Ryu and Shota himself. The former two admitted that her 'like' to Shota might be even more than Ayane and Chizuru themselves though. After noticing her feelings for Shota, Sawako begins to become more nervous around him, in fear of her own greediness. Later on though, she works hard on trying to confess her feelings to him, which leads to them getting together. After they start going out, Sawako tries to become a bit more bold, trying to hold Shota's hand and change the look of her uniform to impress him, also beginning to love Shota even more after hearing more about his own feelings. Abilities Enhanced Speed: Sawako is incredibly fast at running and jumping, to the point where people believe she is teleporting. This is revealed during a soccer match at the School's Sports Festival. Cooking: Sawako is very good at cooking, tending to make meals for her friends, who often become delighted and ask for a second round. Relationships Shota Kazehaya 515146.jpg Look-were-close-friends - Αντίγραφο.jpg 17890.jpg Shota is Sawako's outgoing, friendly classmate, who she considered her idol since they first met on the first day of school. After getting to talk to him more before summer break, she begins to be with Shota more, as well as find new oppurtunities and make new friends. Shota is someone who has influenced Sawako's life greatly, because if it was not him, she wouldn't have been able to make friends (like Ayane and Chizuru) or rivals (Kurumi), along with experimenting so many new things. He also cheered her on when she tried to be friends with Chizuru and Ayane, and thinks how she could always hear Shota's voice inside her head. Sawako has admitted that she could never hate Shota to him during the rumors about her, Chizuru, and Ayane, and was troubled greatly when she had to avoid Shota so he wouldn't get hurt, showing how much she cares about him. Later on, Sawako begins to realize how she has become greedy when it is involved with Shota, wanting to spend more time with him alone during New Year. She becomes troubled, and is too nervous to even talk to Shota, to the point of not being able to give chocolates to him on Valentine's Day. She begins to be unable to speak to Shota due to nervousness and of her feelings coming out, and misunderstands Shota's confession as a rejection. After being scolded by not only Kurumi but Chizuru as well, and a bit of support from Ayane, Kento, and Ryu, Sawako truly realizes what her true feelings are. She thinks to herself how at first "he was so incredible for her" but figures out the one she fell for was just an ordinary guy. She goes after Shota, and confesses her true feelings, but is interrupted before she can hear Shota's true response (although he had hugged her). The next day, Sawako confesses she wants to try to have a new relationship with him, since she felt there was a wall between them, and Shota confesses to her right after in front of everyone. Sawako is shown to be more nervous around Shota, but also smiles more with him. At this point, they have finally held hands, and admitted when they first started to like one another, with Sawako noticing it was when he first said her full name. They have also tried calling one another by first names, but quickly go back to the usual last names. After the field trip, Shota is more self-conscious of himself and becomes a bit more distant to Sawako because he wants to treasure her. They have tried to kiss before in the manga during the field trip, but are interrupted, and have begun to become awkward around one another. However, during their second Christmas, Sawako feels lonely because Shota is so busy managing the party that he does not spend any time with her, even wondering whether he still likes her. Eventually, Sawako confronts him on their relationship, also asking him if he still likes her and questions their relationship. She then closes her eyes for 5 seconds, hoping the awkwardness between them would be resolved (Shota later then asks her, "W-what's wrong... Kuronuma?" while blushing after she opens her eyes), and Sawako breaks out in tears and calls him a liar. He then kisses her 4 times. Ayane Yano Ayane is a close friend of Sawako, as well as one of the first few people who noticed Sawako was being avoided, as seen in Chapter 1. She is different compared to Chizuru when trying to help Sawako, as she instead finds the truth and is more calculating, which Ayane notes herself. Ayane also helps Sawako with makeovers, although usually uses light make up on her. Sawako cares about Ayane a lot, as seen when she avoided her and the others to protect them from the rumors. Although she is usually calm and collected, Ayane is easily infuriated if someone hurts Sawako and not hesitate to attack the one she believes is responsible (frequently Kazehaya) with kicks and sharp words. She also was the one who discovered Kurumi made those fake rumors, and had proved it to Sawako herself. Ayane greatly watches over Sawako's relationships, and seems to enjoy watching it. Sawako's affection for Shota also makes her to start questioning her own relationships. Chizuru Yoshida Yoshida is another close friend of Sawako and Ayane. She tends to cry a lot when Sawako says something sweet or does something for her. Yoshida and Ayane try to help Sawako gain more friends and they also try to set up Kazehaya and Sawako. Chizuru is someone who will fight back head on for Sawako, and cares for her greatly. At one point, she even scolds Sawako for not believing in herself, leading the latter to think more about her actions, although Chizuru also regrets yelling at Sawako right after. They make up right after, leading the two girls to be really happy. Sawako has always felt Chizuru and Ryu would make a good match, although Chiru loves Ryu's brother, Toru, instead. When Chizuru began to feel rejected by Toru, Sawako began to worry about the fact she couldn't do anything, but gets advice from Shota to just be by her side. After Sawako cries for Chizuru, she is able to make Chizuru cry and say what she really feels. Ryu Sanada Ryu is Kazehaya's best friend and a good friend to Sawako. Due to their honest personalities, the two get along most of the time. Because of him, Kazehaya even ran away with Sawako because of a big misunderstanding caused by Kurumi. Ryu was close enough enough to tell her that he loves Chizuru, although told her to keep it a secret, which she agrees. In the second season, when Sawako was looking for Kazehaya during the school festival, Ryu helped her out by yelling "He's in the classroom!" to her. Ume 'Kurumi' Kurumizawa Sawako had met Kurumi a few times before finally formally getting to know one another. She had thought of Kurumi as her role model since she was always so nice, even wanting to become pretty since she saw Kurumi. After Kurumi asked Sawako for her help in getting together with Shota, she said she couldn't help thus noting her true feelings towards Shota, leading Kurumi to start showing her true personality to Sawako. Despite this, Sawako didn't hate Kurumi, even after finding out that Kurumi started the rumors. Sawako admitted to herself that the Kurumi who is in love with Shota was the cutest, and they start to talk more about Shota's good points. Later on, Kurumi confessed, due to what Sawako had said to her before, and announced they were rivals the next day. When Sawako and Shota had accidentally rejected one another, Kurumi scolded Sawako stating she was not her rival, since Sawako had not tried hard in confessing unlike her, leading the latter to think about what she did. In the end, after Sawako and Shota get together, Kurumi thanks Sawako for being a good rival, and says it was because of Sawako that she was able to confess to Shota. Recently, Kurumi has returned and revealed that she wishes to study to be a teacher, just like Sawako. She and Sawako form a closer bond with one another as they both prepare for this mutual career, with Kurumi accepting Sawako as a study partner and promising that she'll do her best to push Sawako along just as Sawako will do for her. Kurumi also helped Sawako deal with a problem she was having on Valentine's Day, which made Sawako call her "a good person", vehemetly denying it when Kurumi insisted that she had a "bad personality". Shino Shino was Sawako's elementary school classmate and the only person who Sawako talks to as the series begins. During elementary school, Shino called Sawako "Sadako" by mistake, causing others being afraid by Sawako's appearance, heard rumors that she was known as "Sadako". It is because of this, that Shino feels guilty, thus caring about Sawako and whether she is fitting into high school. She is in a different class and regrets that she doesn't get to see Sawako very much. Perhaps for their occasionally interactions unless something happened with other people, Sawako is too modest to consider her as a friend. Kento Miura Kento sat beside Sawako in the second year, eventually developing an attraction towards her. He tried breaking them up but ends up making Shouta confess to Sawako but since both of them never understood what the other person meant they ended up separating and things turn to his way but failed. In the end, Kento realizes Sawako only sees him as a friend. Notes *Her name means "joyful child". *She has her nickname "Sadako" since kindergarten. *She is played by Tabe Mikako in the live action version. *Though she should had born at December 24, her birth was slower, finally being born during New Year. *Her dream is becoming a teacher. *When she first encounters Kurumizawa, Sawako wishes to have curly hair. See also Category:Characters Category:Female